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Safari & Golden Beaches
Day 1
Depart from Nairobi driving northwards through coffee, tea and pineapple plantations to your forest lodge situated in the heart of the Aberdares. The afternoon is spent watching game from the balconies of the lodge with dinner and overnight luxury accommodation at the Treetops Lodge. Treetops is a stunning tree hotel situated in a beautiful forest set on high stilts overlooking the floodlit Saltick and waterhole, frequented by a variety of game - including elephants, buffalo, rhinoceros, bush bucks, giant forest hogs and leopards. If you are lucky you may catch a glimpse of the rare black leopard or smaller black serval cat.
Day 2
After breakfast continue north to Kenya's northern frontier district of Samburu. Located
just north of the equator in the rain-shadow of Mt. Kenya, this Heartland includes parts of
Mt. Kenya National Park and Samburu National Reserve, plus extensive ranch and communal
lands. Important elephant migration corridors exist in this Heartland, as well as northern
specialty species like the reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, beisa oryx and gerenuk.
Free-ranging lions, hyenas and leopards live along side avifauna, wild dogs, Grevy's zebra
and black rhinoceros. Intact wet montane forests, dry cedar forests, Loroki plateau
grassland, acacia-grassland and the Ewaso Nyiro River ensure the diversity of the Samburu
Heartland. Enjoy dinner and overnight at your Samburu Lodge accommodation.
Day 3
Enjoy the stunning sunrise and late afternoon game viewing in search of the regions
wildlife. You are free to take an optional visit to the local Samburu villages. Set against
a backdrop of volcanic mountains withered scrub trees punctuate the sparse and noiseless
terrain with clusters of incredibly hardy desert rose providing flashes of vivid colour.
Relax and overnight at your Sambura Lodge accommodation.
Day 4
An early morning breakfast precedes your game drive along the Ewaso Nyiro River offering the
opportunity to spot the Nile crocodile basking on the banks. Continuing south you again
cross the equator. Driving round the Aberdares, with fantastic views of the ranges, to
Nyahururu and down the Great Rift Valley escarpment you arrive at Lake Nakuru Lodge for
lunch. Lake Nakuru, known as "The Pink Lake" has earned its fame as home of one of the
greatest bird spectacles in the world - a myriad of more than 1 million pink flamingos.
Surrounded by a national park, you will be in the company of docile water buck, impala and
baboons galore. The park extends to the foothills of the Mau Range where the black
rhinoceros roam. Following your afternoon game drive, enjoy dinner and overnight at Lake
Nakuru Lodge or Sarova Lion Hill Lodge.
Day 5
Consume a hearty lodge breakfast before departing Lake Nakuru through the Great Rift Valley,
marvelling at the mountain grandeurs and cliff walls as you head to the world best known
wilderness - The Masai Mara. Brightly dressed Maasai warriors tend their herds on the
rolling Mara grasslands. Two nights in this part of the Serengeti Ecosystem provides an
ideal opportunity to sight the "BIG FIVE" - lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhinoceros.
Overnight in your choice of luxury tented camps:
Enjoy your morning and afternoon game viewing in a superb rolling landscape of gentle hills, acacia woodland and the sinuous River Mara. Search for the Mara's famous black maned lions, cheetah, buffalo, wilderbeest, zebra, leopard and gazelle amongst many others. Extend your drive to take in the hippopotamus filled river, where crocodiles bask on the banks - mouths agape. Optional visits to Maasai villages provide an amazing cultural insight. Return to your choice of luxury tented campsite for dinner and overnight.
Day 7
Launching at dawn, rising as the sun rises and floating in whichever direction the winds of
the morning take you. Your pilot can precisely control the altitude of your balloon:
sometimes flying at treetop height, sometimes lower, offering a unique perspective and great
photographic opportunities of the wildlife below. At other times he will ascend to 1000' or
more to see the enormity and wonderful panorama of the Serengeti. From time to time the
pilot must put more heat into the balloon with the powerful whisper burners. In between
these burns, there is silence apart from the natural sounds below. Your flight lasts
approximately 1 hour and culminates with a full champagne breakfast prepared in the bush.
Returning to your camp by road you commence preparations for your fight to Mombasa and the
beginning of a week lazing by the golden sands of the Indian Ocean.
Choose from ocean front resort accommodation in either
White Sands or Leopard Beach resort,
or secluded luxury in your own villa.
Days 8-13
From your luxury
accommodation
on Mombasa's golden coast you are free to enjoy the numerous
activities on offer or just relax and enjoy the local Kenyan hospitality. Kenya is the
supreme outdoors destination. Fishing is encouraged and has taken over from the pasts
hunting. Do your fishing in the morning and you can expect to grapple with barracudas,
king-fish, tunas, marlins and sailfish. Explore the coral beds with either a scuba diving or
snorkelling experience. Water skiing, jet skiing, kite surfing and sailing are all popular
activities. Mombasa boasts many fine restaurants. Large succulent spiny lobsters, superb
shrimp and prawns, kingfish and swordfish are all coastal specialities. If you have an urge
for discotheques or night clubs, you will find them scattered along the coast. Whatever your
desire, Mombasa is sure to delight.
Day 14
Depart your coastal residence and transfer to the airport for your flight back to the UK.
